Can I See Your Manager?
by ImposterParrotGrass
Summary: Quinn is just trying to learn the ropes at his gas station job, but some Customers are very demanding. Dale will not be denied her coffee. Modern AU, Dale is that kind of customer.


**AN: This is a modern AU of the Sigilverse, that honestly was inspired by the audio book. The voice the reader gives Dale is just a perfect "Can I see your manager?" tone, and that is exactly the kind of person Dale would be if she had no magic powers. I have some ideas to wright more, have Dale be in different situations where she makes people's lives miserable, but we'll see.**

**The Sigil Series and all of its characters are owned by Peri Akman.**

Quinn stares for a half second at the cash register before swiftly pulling out three dollar bills. It was a good thing most people seemed to want large coffee. Quinn wasn't sure he could count the change out fast enough to keep the line moving. He was still getting used to calculating change on the fly.

"Have a nice day!" He said, sort of bearing his teeth at the man in an attempt at a smile. The man was not looking, and walked out without a word. The initial rush seemed to be over, and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief, slouching a little as he leaned agenda the table behind him. Kole was right, morning shifts were hard behind the counter. Why couldn't he just be stocking shelves? Sure, Kole has to make the sandwiches, order stock, and do all the important things in the back, but couldn't that wait?

"Hello," came a strangely chipper voice from the door. Quinn snapped back to attention as the woman walked there confidently, her heels clicking loudly. A plastic badge with her face and the name "Dale" was displayed prominently, clipped to her lapel. It seemed she worked at... somewhere with a very small logo.

"Hi, welcome to Herbert's, how can I help you?" He said, just a little too fast.

She seemed not to hear, looking above him at the menu on the wall. The door opened again, and someone got in line behind her.

"I'd like a fresh cold brewed coffee with french vanilla, two creams, and a pinch of sugar." She look back at him, smiling.

"Uhh..." Quinn was frozen for a second., thinking back to his training a few days ago

"_What is cold brewed coffee? How is it different form iced coffee?"_

_Kole shrugged. "It's coffee you make without heating it rather then hot coffee you put ice in later. You just put the grinds in water and wait twelve hours. It's a thing we do the night before, so it will just be in that tank there. It's not that important Quinn, if people are really into coffee, they'll probably just go to the Starbucks. We're a gas station, most of our customers just want to be awake. _

Quinn blinked. Fresh. Did she know what cold brew was? Maybe she meant iced coffee? Whatever, they made it last night, it would be fine. He turned around and brought the paper cup to the plastic keg.

"And please hurry, it's a long drive to work and I don't want to be late."

Oh, good, now he was responsible for her getting to work on time. He could hear Dale's nails clicking on the counter impatiently. That was also not helping.

Quinn rushes through the process with a tiny plastic cup of cream and two paper packets of sugar. He brought the cup over to her, and held it back for a second while he looked up at the menu to check the price. "Two forty nine," he said, grateful when she held out a credit card. He swiped it and started talking to the next customer. Okay, just a large black coffee. Thank god, he already had his money out.

Dale pushed the door open and took a sip, but she seemed to hesitate a moment before turning around. As Quin was pouring the coffee, she strolled past the other man and put hers on the counter.

"I'm sorry, but I asked for just a pinch of sugar, and there is clearly too much. And not enough cream, I need another coffee." She said this all with the same polight smile on her face.

Quinn froze. Had he really just gotten her order wrong? Someone who actually cares about coffee walks into the store his first day working the counter, and SHE'S the one he gets the order wrong for? What if he got everyone's order wrong today, and she was the first to notice? Did he drive away all their consistent regulars and their branch would be shut down for-

"Ahem," Dale coughed, The smile looking a little more forced than before.

Right, focus on the situation at hand. What was their policy on this? Did he make the next one for free? That didn't sound like their company, but Kole definitely didn't care about saving that much money, and it's not like he would be the one reporting to corporate. His gaze fell on the other man behind Dale, who shrugged at him.

"Right away ma'am," Quinn said, leaving the black coffee on the counter, and going back to make another. _Two creams, one sugar, two creams, one sugar_. He threw together the coffee, and finally, after what felt like an eternity of listening to her nails click on the counter, he rushed back to her with the coffee, and looked at her, her smile bodaning Oddly, that was not comforting. He looked down in horror as he realized it still smelled like coffee, and rushed back to add the vanilla flavoring.

He handed it to a much more annoyed Dale her coffee as she looked at her watch. Her smile faltered for a second before returning, more threatening this time.

"I'm going to be late for work because of this young man." She took the coffee with a practiced delicacy, like there is something horrible underneath. "As long as I will be, I would like to see your manager."

There it was. What he was dreading hearing since he started this job. He'd been wondering what to do in this situation for a while now. Kole had assured him that he was probably better at customer service then she was, and had mostly recommended being rude to customers who were rude to him. That was certainly not what he wanted to do now. She did say that he could count on her for whatever he needed, but was this going to just make the situation worse?

"One moment ma'am." Quinn knew that Kole would draw this out uncomfortably, but so would standing here and trying to explain to her that he couldn't turn back time. At least this way he wouldn't be bearing the brunt.

Quinn walked through a swinging door and a moment later, emerged followed by a woman with a green Herberts polo shirt and tennis visor and a hairnet doing it's damndest to keep her red frizzy hair in place. She walked with a slight limp and had a krutch on her left arm. Her name tag clearly noted her as "Kole: Branch manager"

"Hey, I heard you wanted to see me?" Kole said as she rested her right arm on the counter.

Dale seemed to stand up straighter, perhapst trying to look more imposing. "Yes, I'm late for work, and as long as that is the case, I have some... suggestions... about your store. I understand that is is just a _gas station convenience store_, but I would expect it to at least be convenient."

Kole nodded slowly, her eyes almost glazing over. Quinn kept looking between Dale and Kole, as if to see which one would draw a gun and fire first.

"I understand that you might be short staffed, but if you're going to open your doors in this condition, you ought to be ready for this sort of thing. The poor man behind me has been waiting for a frankly unreasonable amount of time, as was I, and the least you could do," she turned her menacing smile back to Quinn. Oh God why, this was supposed to keep him out of the spotlight. "Is be more forthcoming and understanding about it, rather then gawking there and doing everything poorly _and _slowly!"

Dale was clearly about to continue, but Kole leaned to the side, and gestures to the man in line behind Dale. She pointed at the coffee on the table. "This was for you? It's a bit cold, want a new one?"

Dale was caught off guard for a moment, and couldn't speak. The man pointed to himself, confused at what was going on.

"Don't be shy, as the woman said, it's very important that I keep the line moving, so please, help me help you!"

She had a wide "customer serves" smile Quinn had never seen her wear before, and Quinn was nervous. He could tell she was trying to annoy Dale, but Quinn thought that was a very dangerous idea. Couldn't she see Dale was upset, even if she had that fake smile?

"Uhhhhhh," the customer was recovering from his confusion, and was looking between the two women. "Yeah, sure-"

"Oh, that's very mature of you," Dale said tilting her head like one would at a child holding up a piece of macaroni art. "It's cute. You take my words literally and make me look like the bad guy. As if me, simply taking the time out of my day to give you some constructive criticism is the problem here, and not your staff's incompetence."

Kole kept up her smile. "Oh, yes, I'm definitely much less mature than the person who thinks that us gas station attendants have never happened upon the idea of being good at our jobs before." Why did Kole have to say we? Quinn did this because he wanted her to take the heat, selfish and cowardly as that might be.

Dale rolled her eyes, her smile faltering. "Well, part of being a grown up is learning to take criticism and accepting your flaws, and that being cheeky by taking everything literally is something that petulant children do."

Kole's smile broadened, looking more genuine then any Quinn has ever seen in her face.

"Takes one to know one."

Dale made a very quiet sound that may have been a sigh, breaking eye contact for the slightest of moments. When she looked back at Kole, she had that perfect business smile back in her a face.

"Well, I can see there's no reasoning with you. I hope you grow up at some point, but I won't be around to see it. Needless to say I won't be coming back here, and I'll be letting my friends know as well." She turned around and pushed open the door again. "Good luck. And boy, do try and be better than you manager."

Quinn had hoped she'd just forgotten him by now, but at least she was leaving now.

"Ha!" Kole cackled. "I'm the branch manager. You're not leaving, you're banned. I'm banning you. Get out of my store!"

Dale just shook her head as she made her way out the door. Kole handed the man who was still at the counter a fresh coffee.

"Thanks for waiting," she said before turning back to Quinn. "Sorry you had to deal with that so soon. Those types can be a handful. Not to often they go the whole nine yards and want the manager, so check off that experience."

Quinn let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Thanks for dealing with it. Are you sure that wasn't an over reaction? Banning her?"

"Nah, she was never gonna come back anyway. And if she did, I don't wanna deal with her."


End file.
